Recruiting: Horton Becomes 16th Commit

We'll have more later, but on Saturday morning we confirmed that talented tight end prospect Justin Horton of Henderson, Texas made a verbal pledge to Oklahoma State late this week. The confirmation came in a call to Horton late Saturday morning.

Horton has been on the verge of a commitment to Oklahoma State for most of the summer. Despite other schools trying to wedge in, Horton has kept Oklahoma State on top in his recruitment from the beginning.

Horton was in attendance and impressed Oklahoma State coaches at both a satellite camp in East Texas and in Stillwater at the Cowboys Senior-Junior one-day camp in June. The 6-4, 220-pound Horton has unusual speed for a tight end having run in the mid-4.5 range both times he was in the presence of the OSU coaching staff.

He runs like a wide receiver and doesn't drop anything within reach. After laying out of football since the eighth grade, Horton came back last season as a junior and showed remarkable improvement, catching 26 passes for 339 yards and a touchdown.

He has been a rising prospect in most recruiting sources since his comeback season to football last fall. As of several weeks ago Horton had scholarship offers from the likes of Nebraska, Arkansas, Houston, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, and Arkansas State in addition to the Cowboys, who had offered first.

Horton becomes the Cowboys 16th verbal pledge toward the 2008 recruiting class, which doesn't officially come together until the signing of letters and scholarship agreements on Feb. 2, 2008. The Cowboys are likely working with a number for the class overall that would give them approximately 5 to 6 more places in that class.

Cowboy Commitments